New people are coming in this spot everyday, and then they want to write their own article & I think it's about time someone wrote a detailed tutorial on how to write one, because it's no easy task. So I decided to do it. This article is mainly for people who want to learn, but if the experienced can think of any other tips, please comment.

Step 1: Think of a topic
Most of the articles on this site are opinion articles, like "My Favorite Princesses" or "My Favorite Princess Movies". These are fun to do, but be careful when choosing the list you want to write. The best ideas for opinion articles are:
♥ Favorite Princesses
♥ Favorite Princess movies
♥ Prettiest Princesses
♥ Favorite Princess songs
...and many more. You can take a look at link because she has a lot of ideas for the traditional countdown article, and frankly, her articles are fantastic. If you want to do a informational article, like "The Meaning of Disney Princess Songs" or "Alan Menken & his Princess Songs", make sure you do lots of research. Make sure you gathered all your information before even starting the article, and make sure the article hasn't been done before on the same topic.

Step 2: Think of a good title & summary
Remember - the title is the first thing people see. The first thing that draws them to the article. For example, a title like:
"why I luvvv princess jasmen!!111!!!111"
Isn't going to attract any readers. No ones going to read that article, because they can already tell that:
1.The writer can't spell.
2.The writer can't use punctuation correctly.
3.The writer doesn't use proper grammar.
It's much like writing a book. If J.K. Rowling had named her first book, "harry putter n the sorcy stun", well...there goes her fame & money. So think carefully. What is your article about? If it's a countdown, a normal title like, "My Favorite Princesses" will do. If it's informational, try to make it sound professional looking. Like, "Islam References in Aladdin". For your summary, it's really not as important as your title. In all the time I've read articles on Fanpop, I've really never read a single summary. The title is all that draws me in. So just make a it quick, sweet & to the point.
"A list of my favorite princesses"
"References to Islam in the movie Aladdin"

Step 3: Write & Organize Your Information
For opinion articles:
At the very beginning of your article, you might or might not want to write a quick intro to your article, explaining what it's about and wishing everyone a happy read. You don't have to, but it's not a bad thing to do. Next, usually you'd start with your bottom (princess, song, movie, etc.) and go to your top. When you want to make things bold & underlined, for example your subtopic titles to each paragraph about each (princess, song, movie, etc.) just look at the right of the article you're writing. You should see a box that says "Formatting Tips":

Use these instructions to spice up your article a little.
For informational articles:
The most important thing for this kind of article is ORGANIZATION. You want to section your article into different sections of information so you don't confuse your reader or get them off track. Great examples of this can be found in link and link. Use the formatting tips to organize your article too.

Step 4: Pictures
Even though it is tempting to do all your pictures first because they're the best part of making an article, I highly recommend you save the best for last. When doing opinion articles, you can find all pictures of princesses, princes, songs, and even movie titles at link. EVERYTHING is there. Bookmark it & never lose it. When you get the picture of the princess or other thing you're looking for, you're going to want to make it look beautiful because beautiful pictures in an article just make people want to fan it just for the pictures. My favorite photo-editing sites are:
♥ link
♥ link
When you've editing your pictures, follow these instructions:

To get your pictures next to the paragraph, put the alignment code on top of the paragraph. To put it under the paragraph, put the alignment code under the paragraph. A great example of fantastic picture alignments & editing can be found in almost all of link.

Step 5: Get People to Read it
Once you've re-read your article and feel like everything is perfect, click that publish button. Since everyone(including me) is too lazy to check the article section for new articles, you'll have no choice but to advertise it. The best way to do that is to make a pick:
"Will you read my article on (insert article topic here)?"
Then give people two simple choices: yes or no. Publish that pick, and then the most important part, PUT THE LINK TO THE ARTICLE IN THE PICK COMMENTS. So when people see the pick and say, "Hey, sure I'll read your article!" and click yes, they can just click on the link and be directed straight to it. You'll get lots of comments that way. You can also post the link on the wall, but trust me, the pick way is much more efficient.

I hope I helped & I'm looking forward to seeing all your new articles soon.